


(Not Another) One of Those Movies

by asuralucier



Category: Marriage Story (2019)
Genre: Developing Relationship (Again), Divorce on Film, F/M, Food, Hopeful Ending, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asuralucier/pseuds/asuralucier
Summary: “Divorce is really uninteresting in film.” Charlie frowned. “Especially if they just get back together at the end. What character development? Just forget it.”(Charlie and Nicole talk about Charlie's new movie. Turns out maybe they're talking about something else, too.)
Relationships: Charlie/Nicole (Marriage Story)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19
Collections: All The Nice Things Flash Exchange 2020





	(Not Another) One of Those Movies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts).



“Divorce is really uninteresting in film.” Charlie frowned. “Especially if they just get back together at the end. What character development? Just forget it.” 

As he talked, Charlie reached forward and speared a piece of Peking duck right from its greasy aluminum container with his fork. He didn't bother with giving the duck a few seconds on the plate that sat on his knee. He would have, if Nicole had been someone else, but as she wasn't, he felt like he didn't need to. Besides, this was a pretty good rendition of Peking duck, and Charlie didn't even like duck. 

Charlie didn't like a lot of things. At the top of a long list was a three way tie between Downtown L.A. traffic, which was terrible after even after eight p.m; the way Angelenos said, " _Dude_ ," and touched his shoulder like they were suddenly friends; and the way the Hollywood elite shunned the theatre to flock to the movies instead. 

But maybe he'd gotten used to it. It’d once been easy to tell himself that he did it for Henry, but Henry was a whopping sixteen. He stood six-foot even, drove a second-hand Honda that Charlie and Nicole had argued over forever, but then they’d called a truce about two weeks after Henry got his license. Charlie could move back to New York if he wanted to. 

For some reason, he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. He was even starting to tan.

“Second chances make people feel good,” said Nicole with her mouth full. She washed it all down with a long swallow of wine and patted her mouth delicately with one of the kraft napkins that’d come with the takeout. 

“Hm,” Charlie hummed, mostly noncommittal. 

It was second nature after that, when Charlie spied the bit of duck stuck in her teeth and motioned. Nicole expelled a soft, “Oh,” and turned quickly away from him, a napkin in hand. Then she smiled at him again, showing all of her teeth.

“Yeah, it’s gone.” Charlie couldn’t help but smile himself. Nicole's smile was infectious, even now. “Anyway, I haven’t said yes or no.” 

“Oh, come on,” Nicole chided. She reached to touch him, a friendly clap on the shoulder. “This is your chance! You can show people what real theatre’s about. Yeah, okay, you have to maybe get behind a camera to do it, but…” 

“But?” 

“I don’t know." Nicole was always better at using chopsticks than Charlie. She snagged a piece of garlic broccoli and chewed thoughtfully. “I read the script. I think you could do a lot with it.” 

“I never thought I’d direct a movie,” said Charlie, thinking aloud. And he really didn't. 

“I never thought I’d end up divorced,” said Nicole, and they looked at each other for a very long minute. The clock in her kitchen struck nine. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. And then finally—

Charlie said, “Neither did I.” 

He looked towards his wineglass and saw that it was empty. Nicole saw this too, and moved to reach for the bottle nearby. “More?” 

“I don’t know. Yes, please.” 

Charlie watched as the dark burgundy color sloshed around in his glass. “Anyway, I just don’t think it’s believable. That ending.” 

Nicole topped herself up too and held her glass carefully in her both hands. Charlie had just noticed that she wasn’t touching him anymore. “You never know. Maybe they’d be open to tweaking it. You never know if you don’t ask. If you don’t start talking about it.” 

“Yeah,” Charlie said. 

“Anyway, if you don’t get a move on, they might ask Mark Waters.” Nicole frowned. “Xenia told me.” 

“That’s…wow.” Charlie tried to think of a nice thing to say. “A shift in tone?” 

“Exactly,” Nicole agreed. “Will you think about it?” 

Without thinking, Charlie took her hand, as if it was an old habit he hadn’t bothered to give up. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”


End file.
